


Broken promises

by warlockinatardis



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Gen, Post-Episode: s01e04 Cyberwoman, Pre-Episode s01e05 Small Worlds, we-are-torchwood tumblr prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 07:16:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10962360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warlockinatardis/pseuds/warlockinatardis
Summary: The universe really liked to fuck with Jack over and over again





	Broken promises

The universe really liked to fuck with Jack over and over again. Apparently it hadn’t been bad enough that he’d had to read Rose’s name on the list of the dead from Battle of Canary Wharf, no it certainly hadn’t been enough, because the Tardis had just materialised in the Hub and to make matters worse the Doctor, his Doctor, and Rose had both stepped out of the Tardis. Jack had hoped, of course he had, that somehow she might have survived the Battle, but his hopes were dashed quickly when Rose opened her mouth. 

“Oh there you are! I thought we’d never find where the slave ship took you”

And just like that Jack felt his heart sink. He kept the smile on his face and motioned his team to stay back and keep their weapons down. He could tell that the Doctor already was putting two and two together.

“Sorry to disappoint Rose, but you’ve jumped a bit forward in my timeline”, Jack said and rubbed the back of his neck.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked frowning. 

“Jack, what’s going on?” Gwen asked at the same time. Jack smiled and prayed that the Doctor, or Rose for that matter, wouldn’t see through his lies.

“Look the whole kidnapped by slave traders has already happened to me. A quite a while ago”, Jack admitted and he could see the disappointed look on Rose was trying to hide. 

“But-”, Rose started, but was quickly cut of by the Doctor, “You can’t ask about the future”

“He’s right Rose, I can’t tell you what’ll happen, but I can promise you that you’ll find me and that we’ll have lots and lots of adventures together”, Jack said cheerfully even though he felt like crying. He’d promised her that he wouldn’t lie to her and here he was breaking his promises.

“You promise that this you, the future you, is still travelling with us?” Rose asked and looked at him with that look on her eyes that made Jack want to do anything to make her happy.

“I promise. In fact, I’ll see you both soon enough”, Jack said with another cheerful fake-smile. The Doctor was frowning at him, but didn’t say anything.

“Really?” It seemed he wasn’t convincing enough. He needed to say something, to make her believe, otherwise she’d never leave, or worse, she might let something slip to his past self.

“Do you trust me?”, Jack asked, he knew it wasn’t fair, but he needed them to go before they changed the past or Jack did something stupid like beg them to never leave him behind.

“Yes! ‘Course I do!” The Doctor walked closer and took Rose’s hand.

“I think we should go before we find out more about our future”, the Doctor said. Rose looked ready to protest and opened her mouth to say something, but Jack beat her to it.

“He’s right, you still need to find past-me”, Jack said and shrugged, “anyway, I promised that I wouldn’t lie to you didn’t I?” Rose nodded and let the Doctor walk her back to the Tardis. 

“I love you”, she whispered before disappearing into the Tardis. It felt like he’d been stabbed.

“I didn’t know about this, you can’t tell me anything”, Jack managed to get past the lump in his throat. The Doctor looked at him with understanding and then nodded. Jack watched as the door to the Tardis closed and took a involuntary step forward, he couldn’t watch them leave again, not when she was going to die. But it was already too late. The Tardis was already leaving taking Jack’s heart with it. 

“Who where they?”, Gwen asked after the Tardis had disappeared completely. 

“People from my past”, Jack answered. He was still looking at the spot the Tardis had been. 

“You said that you were still travelling with them, but we’ve never seen them before, what-”, Owen started, but was cut short when Jack whirled around.

“I lied to them, because if I hadn’t she wouldn’t have left! And if she had stayed any longer I wouldn’t have been able to tell her to leave, because she’ll die in a year or so and I’ll never see her again!”, Jack shouted. His team was staring him with varying degrees of shock and sympathy. Jack closed his eyes, he just couldn’t bear to look at them anymore.

“I’m sorry Jack”, Toshiko said quietly. Jack nodded and walked out of the Hub, he needed some air.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this rather quickly, so if there're any mistakes let me know! This for the we-are-torchwood celebration for the 12th anniversary of the Empty Child/the Doctor Dances and sunday's promt was team Torchwood meeting Nine and Rose. I realize that the team is just in the background and no Ianto, because he hasn't returned to work yet after Cyberwoman. (Or I didn't know how to include him in the story)
> 
> Leave kudos or a comment if you enjoyed, this has also been posted on my tumblr!


End file.
